Female Counter-Curation: A Case Study of Polish Napoleonic War Reenactment
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Juliane Tomann
Abstract
Historical reenactment has developed from a niche phenomenon to a global one over the past couple of decades. As a popular pastime it sparks enthusiasm and curiosity for past lifeworlds among the reenactors themselves as well as among the audiences. With its focus on restaging battles and combat, the reenactment environment is a predominantly male one. This article examines female practices of reenactment in a Polish reenactment group. It aims to not only add to the existing body of literature on female reenactors, but to further pinpoint the extent to which the concept of curation helps expand and deepen the understanding of reenactment practices both in general and with regard to female participation. The focus is on female-to-male cross-dressing, interpreted as an ambiguous practice which allows for both the deconstruction of normative gender performances and their stabilization.
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Special Section on Practices of Counter-Curation: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Renegotiating Norms and Narratives in Meaning-Making
- Curation as a Social Practice: Counter-Narratives in Public Space
- Female Counter-Curation: A Case Study of Polish Napoleonic War Reenactment
- ‘On Our Own Terms’: Refusal, Masks, and Indigenous Counter-narratives in Santiago de Chile Public Space
- Dark Academia: Curating Affective History in a COVID-Era Internet Aesthetic
- ‘Fluid’ Identity in Text-Building: A Study of the Revitalization of Origin Tales in West Hunan, China
- Additional Article
- Performing History in China: Cultural Memory in the Present
- PH in Russia
- Public History in Russia: The Past, the Present, and (Thoughts About) the Future
- Book Reviews
- Thorsten Logge, Eva Schöck-Quinteros, and Nils Steffen: Review of Geschichte im Rampenlicht: Inszenierungen historischer Quellen im Theater
- Serge Noiret, Mark Tebeau, and Gerben Zaagsma: Handbook of Digital Public History
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Special Section on Practices of Counter-Curation: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Renegotiating Norms and Narratives in Meaning-Making
- Curation as a Social Practice: Counter-Narratives in Public Space
- Female Counter-Curation: A Case Study of Polish Napoleonic War Reenactment
- ‘On Our Own Terms’: Refusal, Masks, and Indigenous Counter-narratives in Santiago de Chile Public Space
- Dark Academia: Curating Affective History in a COVID-Era Internet Aesthetic
- ‘Fluid’ Identity in Text-Building: A Study of the Revitalization of Origin Tales in West Hunan, China
- Additional Article
- Performing History in China: Cultural Memory in the Present
- PH in Russia
- Public History in Russia: The Past, the Present, and (Thoughts About) the Future
- Book Reviews
- Thorsten Logge, Eva Schöck-Quinteros, and Nils Steffen: Review of Geschichte im Rampenlicht: Inszenierungen historischer Quellen im Theater
- Serge Noiret, Mark Tebeau, and Gerben Zaagsma: Handbook of Digital Public History
